Elizabeth Jones
Graduate Student - Zhang Lab
Professional Background
Before moving to the Midwest, I graduated from the University of Rhode Island with my BS in biological sciences in 2015, while working on a research fellowship in entomology and botany biological control. After graduating I moved to Columbia, MO to work as a research specialist under Dr. Elizabeth King at the University of Missouri. My research there focused on how resource allocation in drosophila melanogaster affected lifespan, body maintenance, and fecundity depending on diet conditions. I was also able to design side projects related to the correlation between diet and the microbiome.
In 2020, I joined the IGPBS program at KUMC and proceeded to join Dr. Lisa Zhang’s lab in May of 2021. My current research focuses on cross organ communication between the liver and intestines, specifically focused on intestinal Shp knock out and how it affects the bile acid pathway under diet induced NAFLD. Future projects will investigate the involvement of Shp and HuR in tumor development and suppression for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).